Sydney, Australia
I've always disliked this part of my job
Christenings are fun
Weddings festive
Funerals...funerals are just final
Today's one is particularly sad
A young mother murdered.
A tragedy.
I recite the verses
Watching the few attendees's as they stand there.
Men in dark suits, and sombre ties.
Sunglasses hide empty eyes in expressionless faces
These are government people.
Even I can tell that.
This funeral is part of their duty.
One man in particular draws my attention.
The child clutching his hand weeps silently beside him.
Tears stream down the little boy's face.
He swipes at them mutinously with a small fist.
Trying so hard not to let the volcano of emotion inside him erupt
The man looks down at the boy
Compassion and understanding on his face, he picks him up.
A woman stands a few feet away.
Watching the scene
Trying not to show any expression.
She was sitting beside the man in the church
A friend maybe, more likely a lover.
She watches them..tears in her eyes.
I say my last line.
Committing her body to the earth
The man with the boy turns to me and nods
A silent thanks for the sombre task I have performed
He hands the crying child to the woman and she takes him to the waiting car.
The Government people disappear so quickly it's as if they never existed at all
The man in the charcoal suits remains
Staring at the grave, his lips unmoving, his expression saying it all.
He looks up & catches my gaze
Fear,pain & uncertainty are all there in his green eyes.
"This shouldn't have happened father,"
He said softly.
"Maybe it was Gods will..but it never should have happened."
I simply nod, knowing that for this man, there is nothing I can say to appease him.
He places a single red rose on the headstone marking the woman's grave.
Saying Goodbye the only way he can.
The charcoal suited man walks away to his car & his child.
I look down at the young woman's headstone....
1970 - 2000
Beloved Friend
Hero.
"Til Next We Meet..."